Roaster’s Reflections from Crete: Coffee and Connection in Kato Gouves

We roast coffee in Melbourne — in a purpose-built facility designed for precision, scale, and consistency. We manage profiles, airflows, batch logs, and bean densities every day. But every now and then, it’s good to step away from the control panel and just sit. With a coffee. In a place like Kato Gouves.

Kato Gouves is a small village on Crete’s north coast — sun-drenched, slow-paced, and full of little surprises. It’s not famous, not flashy. But it reminded us of something essential: that great coffee is never just about what's in the cup — it’s about where it’s served, how it’s shared, and why it’s made.

Coffee, Greek Style (and Then Some)

Here in Kato Gouves, the café culture is unhurried and human. Mornings start with the clatter of teaspoons in tall glasses — freddo espressos swirling over ice, bitter and bold. Afternoons stretch out with thick, traditional ellenikos coffee brewed slowly in a briki, served with a view and a breeze.

But what stood out most to us was a quiet shift in the local scene: a few small café owners starting to experiment. One was testing his grinder with a Brazilian single origin. Another was asking us about roast development and crema retention in high heat. The passion was real.

And it got us thinking: if we could drop one of our blends onto their bar… what would it be?

Enter: Melbourne B126

Our Melbourne B126 blend is one of our most popular standards — and for good reason. It’s crafted to perform across milk and black, hot and cold, with smooth structure and complex sweetness. Think chocolate fudge, stone fruit, and roasted hazelnuts.

B126 is versatile and reliable — the kind of blend that would sing in a freddo, cut through milk in a cappuccino freddo, or shine as a straight espresso. It’s the blend we’d confidently send to a Cretan café owner looking to serve something a little different — something with punch, polish, and all-day balance.

From Melbourne to Crete: Same Values, Different Vibes

Roasting from Australia, we’re miles away from the quiet streets of Kato Gouves. But the values still align. The cafés here care about flavour. About consistency. About the human side of coffee. That’s exactly what we aim for in every roast — coffee that performs batch after batch, whether you’re serving 200 cups a day or 20.

Crete reminded us that the best cafés aren’t always found on the high streets or in the cities. Sometimes, they’re nestled next to lemon trees, five steps from the beach, run by someone who cares enough to do it right.

Don’t Want to Develop Your Own Blend?

No problem. Not every café wants to go deep into origin selection, roast profiling, or taste trialing. That’s why Melbourne B126 exists.

You can simply choose B126, put your own brand on the bag, and start serving café-quality coffee that’s already been dialled in, tested, and trusted.

We call it:

Your Brand. Our Blend. Everyone Wins.

Ready to launch your own brand without starting from scratch?

We’ve roasted Melbourne B126 for hundreds of cafés who just wanted something solid, delicious, and reliable — without getting caught up in the complexity of building a blend from the ground up.

Whether you're in a laneway in Fitzroy or a beach café in Crete — B126 delivers.